LUCY GUERIN INC
Presented by BLEACH*
Artfully blending the past into present through a series of stirring duets, you’re invited to go on a visual journey of movement.
A true feat of physical brilliance, NEWRETRO DUETS delves deep into the archives, chronicling five incredible duets, from award-winning choreographer Lucy Guerin’s stellar career including, Melt: Part One, Incarnadine, How To Be Us, Split and Robbery Waitress on Bail. Witness the art of storytelling through liquid-like movement that bounces from the chaotic and frenzied to the soft and elegant.
Melt is a duet that examines the temperature trajectory from freezing to boiling through movement. Beginning with the minute, sharp movements of cracking ice, it progresses through a warm and languid quality, culminating in frenzied and chaotic choreography that the dancers can barely maintain. The movement is complemented through motion graphics and sound design. In the words of one reviewer, “the overall effect is so seamless that we are left wondering how any one element ever existed without the other” (Seamless, 2002).
Incarnadine explores the meeting of two contrasting elements and their attempts to absorb or repel each other. This rigorous unison duet investigates different approaches to dealing with emotion and relationships and how these boundaries are maintained or overstepped. Incarnadine was originally for five dancers with this duet at its centre.
How to Be Us is a duet for two women that integrates improvised movement devised by each dancer with strict patterns and formal structures directed by the choreographer. It explores questions of liberty, both individual and communal, in the context of a world grappling with conflicting ideas of freedom.
Robbery Waitress on Bail draws its inspiration from the pages of Melbourne’s tabloids. Its starting point is the report of a waitress who acts as a hostage in a robbery while her fiancé holds a knife to her throat in the all-night cafe where she works. This piece has all the elements of a Hitchcock thriller and kept audiences on the edge of their seats from its first performance.
Revelling in Lucy Guerin’s sharp, elegant choreographic investigations, Split (2017) reflects the dilemmas of negotiating with oneself and others in a world of increased pressure and reduced resources. Featuring a musical score by UK composer Scanner, Split is a thought-provoking structural meditation rendered in movement. Split won Green Room Awards in 2018 for Ensemble, and Concept and Realisation. Lucy Guerin was also awarded the prestigious Shirley McKechnie Award for Excellence in Choreography for Split in 2018.
Award-winning choreographer Lucy Guerin was born in Adelaide, Australia, and graduated from the Centre for Performing Arts in 1982 before dancing with Russell Dumas (Dance Exchange) and Nanette Hassall (Danceworks). Guerin moved to New York in 1989 for seven years where she danced with Tere O’Connor Dance, the Bebe Miller Company and Sara Rudner, and began to produce her first choreographic works.
In 2002 she founded Lucy Guerin Inc (LGI) in Melbourne, to support the development and creation of new works with a focus on challenging and extending the discourse and practice of dance and building a vibrant community of dance artists.
Guerin’s works have merged with film, words, music, design, and visual art in collaboration with many other artists. New productions are generated through an experimental approach to the creative process. Guerin works towards creating small societies in her productions that devise their rules from the human body’s relationship to space, rhythm, and other people. The dancers are her primary collaborators.
Guerin has been commissioned by companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project (USA), Lyon Opera Ballet (France), Chunky Move (Australia), Dance Works Rotterdam (Netherlands), Skånes Dansteater (Sweden), and Rambert (UK). Her awards include the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award, a New York Dance and Performance Award (‘Bessie’) and multiple Green Room, Helpmann, and Australian Dance Awards. In 2016, Guerin received the Australia Council Award for Dance, and in 2020 the Order of Australia (OA).
Content Warning: The work named Split contains nudity and is an 18+ event.
These works are primarily visual works with some dialogue and music and Deaf and hard of hearing audiences can have some engagement with the work.
The event contains 5 individual dance works. A short (5 minute) break will take place between each work. Audience members can choose to attend individual works or all 5 works in a session.
This event takes place in Theatre 2, which has a limited amount of wheelchair accessible seating and some seating that is accessed by 2 steps (upward). While the event is General Admission, wheelchair and 2 step up seats can be pre-reserved by contacting our team in advance to reserve.
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| Choreography | Lucy Guerin |
| Dancers | Amber McCartney, Ashley McLellan, Claire Leske, Georgia Rudd, Rebecca Jensen, Stephanie Halyburton, Tra Mi Dinh |
| Lighting Design | Paul Lim |
| Costume Design | Kate Davis |
| Technical Operator | Nick Moloney |
| Producer | Estelle Conley |
| Executive Producer | Ally Harvey, Brendan O’Connell |
| Photo | Gregory Lorenzutti |
| Acknowledgements | This presentation would not have been possible without the generous support of the late Chloe Munro AO. Lucy Guerin Inc is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts and funding advisory body, by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, and by the City of Melbourne. NEWRETRO DUETS premiered as part of NEWRETRO at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), March 2023. |
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| Saturday 03 Aug | 4:00PM |
| Sunday 04 Aug | 1:00PM |
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We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Yugambeh Language Region and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People of the Gold Coast. We recognise their continuing connection and contributions to country and culture. We pay respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
© Experience Gold Coast 2024 | Website by Embark
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Yugambeh Language Region and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People of the Gold Coast. We recognise their continuing connection and contributions to country and culture. We pay respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
